Spock

Notes

Early Life

Spock was born on Vulcan in 22302 to Sarek, a Vulcan Ambassador, and his wife, Amanda Grayson.3 He had an older half-brother, Sybok, the product of a union between Sarek and a Vulcan Princess.4

Spock had a difficult childhood on Vulcan. Other children frequently tormented him claiming that his mixed heritage meant that he was not a true Vulcan. He would often return home stiff-lipped, anguished, holding back tears.3

Sarek hoped that Spock would enrol in the Vulcan Science Academy - something Sarek and his father had both done. Instead, Spock chose to join Starfleet. This created a rift between Sarek and Spock, and the Ambassador refused to speak to his son until 2267.3 It was not until 2286 that Sarek finally admitted that his opposition to Spock's decision 'may have been incorrect'.5

Career

Spock graduated from the Academy in 2253.6 Like many of the Enterprise crew Spock became famous throughout the Federation, and amongst Vulcans became thought of as a legendary figure.3 In his final year of the Academy he served on board the USS Enterprise;7 he participated in the mission to Talos IV which resulted in the planet being placed under quarantine.1

After graduation Spock continued to serve on board the Enterprise. He would return to Talos in 2267, taking the badly crippled Fleet Captain Pike there so that he could live out the remainder of his life with the Talosians.8 Although Spock's actions were in direct violation of regulations, and could even have brought the death penalty for him, Commodore Mendez chose to waive all charges in recognition of the historic importance of Captain Pike to space exploration.9

Spock retired from Starfleet in 227010 after the five year mission of exploration was completed, returning to Vulcan to pursue Kolinahr, the highest level of Vulcan non-emotionalism. He returned the following year to assist with the V'Ger crisis, and subsequently chose to remain in active service.11

Although Spock sought command in his early career12, he later came to dislike the idea of his own captaincy. Nevertheless, he became Captain of the Enterprise when the ship was assigned to Starfleet Academy to serve as a training ship. When the Genesis crisis arose in 2285 Spock turned command over to Admiral Kirk; during this crisis Spock entered an engineering compartment which had become heavily contaminated with radiation in order to make repairs to the main energiser. Spock died shortly afterwards from radiation poisoning and was buried on the Genesis planet.13

Unknown to the crew of the Enterprise at the time, Spock had used a Vulcan mind meld to transfer a copy of his consciousness to Dr McCoy. David Marcus subsequently discovered that the Genesis effect had regenerated Spock's body, and Admiral Kirk took this body to Vulcan to allow Spock's mind to be rejoined with his body in the fal-tor-pan ceremony on Mount Seleya. This was a success, and Spock lived again.14

Spock subsequently participated in Admiral Kirk's journey to 20th Century Earth to pick up a pair of humpback whales. Once the Enterprise crew returned to Starfleet he was appointed as science and executive officer of the Enterprise-A,5 a post which he continued to fill for a further eight years. In 2293 Spock's father, Sarek, made peace overtures to the Klingon Empire after the Praxis disaster. Spock volunteered the Enterprise to take part in the talks; when the Klingon Chancellor was assassinated by two Enterprise crewmembers, Spock uncovered a conspiracy of Starfleet and Klingon personnel to sabotage the peace conference. Spock rescued Kirk from the surface of the Rura Pente asteroid in time to go to Khitomer and save the peace conference.15

After this Spock again retired from Starfleet. He became a diplomat, following in his father's footsteps. Although he would frequently argue with his father, the debates were generally kept within the family. But when the debates over the Cardassian war began, Spock chose to attack Sarek's position publicly. Sarek's wife, Perrin, took this to indicate a complete lack of loyalty on Spock's part, something she found offensive.16

In 2368 Spock vanished from the Federation completely. He was subsequently seen on Romulus. Abduction was feared, but Spock had carefully put all of his affairs in order before vanishing, indicating that he had planned to leave. Starfleet sent Captain Picard a covert mission to Romulus to contact Spock.16

The mission was successful, and Spock revealed that he had contacted a Romulan dissident movement was was working to build links between the Romulans and Vulcans in order to facilitate an eventual reunification between the two peoples - a process that he regarded as a historical inevitability. He remained on Romulus to continue with the mission after Captain Picard departed.17

In 2387 Romulus was threatened with destruction by a Supernova explosion. Spock raced to acquire a sample of red matter in order to create a black hole to contain the supernova, but he arrived too late and the planet was destroyed. Spock's ship vanished into the black hole and was never seen again. Unknown to Starfleet his ship emerged in 2258 on the alternate timeline created by Nero's arrival in 2233. Spock assisted in the defeat of Nero. Afterwards, he committed himself to assisting in the rebuilding of the Vulcan race after the destruction of their home planet by Nero. He had the rare experience of meeting the alternate version of his younger self, and the two remained friends.18

In 2259 the alternate version of Spock contacted his elder self for assistance in dealing with Khan Noonien Singh. Spock was able to provide valuable advice.19

Spock died in 2263 Although this was just 33 years after his birth, thanks to time travel he was in fact 162 years old.2

Relationships

Despite his commitment to Vulcan non-emotionalism, Spock maintained friendships with his fellow shipmates.20 He was especially close to Captain James T. Kirk and Leonard H. McCoy.21 Despite spending years in one another's company aboard ship, the three would often spend shore leave together as well. Indeed, so close were the three that they would refer to one another as family.22

In 2237, Spock was telepathically bonded to T'Pring at age 7. He would return to Vulcan in 2267 whilst undergoing the pon-farr, but T'Pring rejected him, choosing instead to free herself from the engagement via the ritual combat of the kal-if-fee. Spock fought T'Pring's chosen champion, Captain Kirk, apparently killing him. The combat broke the telepathic bond and ended his pon-farr. He subsequently chose to release T'Pring from the relationship.23

In 2261 Spock met Leila Kalomi whilst he was on Earth. She fell in love with him, but would later comment that this fact was only important to herself; when asked how Spock felt about it, she would comment that his feelings on the matter were never expressed to her. The two would meet again in 2267 on Omicron Ceti III, where she was a colonist. She was under the influence of mind-altering plantlife on the planet. When Spock also fell under the influence, he was able to finally express his love for Leila.24

Both Leila and Spock were eventually freed from the effects of the plantlife. Spock would later comment that he had little to say about the incident beyond the fact that, for the only time in his life, he had been happy.24

Spock acted as a mentor to other Vulcans in Starfleet. Most notable amongst these were Saavik13 and Valeris.15 He guided both to become Starfleet officers whilst trying to explain Human behaviour to them. With Valeris especially, Spock would point out that whilst Vulcan logic was a fine thing, it was 'the beginning of wisdom... not the end'.15

When Spock was killed, Saavik was part of the science team which discovered his regenerated body on the Genesis planet. She assisted the rapidly ageing Spock in passing through his first pon-farr25 and subsequently accompanied him back to Vulcan. She remained on the planet when the Enterprise officers departed for Earth.5

Valeris served under Spock as a helm officer on the Enterprise, in a role similar to Saavik's. She was present during the peace mission to the Klingon Empire. She betrayed Starfleet there, assisting in the assassination of Chancellor Gorkon, and subsequently attempting to assist in the assassination of the Federation President at Camp Khittomer. Spock was deeply hurt by this betrayal, although Valeris would claim that she was acting logically to save Starfleet. When Valeris declined to name her fellow conspirators, Spock forced a mind meld on her to take the information. Valeris was subsequently arrested and the assassination attempt foiled.15

Hobbies / Interests

Spock was known to play the Vulcan lute26, a stringed musical instrument tuned on a diatonic scale.27 He was a keen player of three dimensional chess, which he played with a very logical style.28